President Mohamed Mursi will not attend the installation ceremony of the new Coptic pope, the church said on Friday, to the dismay of Christians who fear being sidelined in the new Islamist-led Egypt. …

Mursi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly said he is the president of all Egyptians but Christians cite recent cases of religious intimidation by radical Islamists, such as a raid earlier this month on a party to promote interfaith harmony, as a sign of things to come.

Coptic rights activist and lawyer Peter el-Naggar said: "President Mursi's decision not to attend comes as a surrender to pressures that some (ultra-orthodox Islamist) Salafi groups and others put on him."

"The presidency has previously announced that the president will attend if he got invited, and he was invited," he said.